Cold Specks is the moniker for Canadian musician Al Spx. Now based in London, she released her debut album 'I Predict a Graceful Expulsion' earlier in the year on Mute Records. A very recent purchase by me and it will, no doubt, be somewhere near the top when I put together the top albums of 2012 show... to be aired real soon. 'I Predict a Graceful Expulsion' is a stunning debut that is engaging from start to finish. I accept that it does have a degree of 'sameness' throughout the album but still manages to stay interesting. As opposed to, say, Tame Impala's 'Lonerism' which starts off like the psychedelic Beatles album you wish they recorded... but over time it feels too much the same and the interest is lost. Sorry Tame Impala fans, but I am just trying to explain why I can like one over the other, when they have similar attributes. Her songwriting influences started with The Strokes and included Alan Lomax's early field recordings to Tom Waits and even Smog. After an English record producer heard a CD she had recorded and distributed to friends, she was asked to move to the UK and record with him. Interestingly, she agreed but had to delay because she had dropped out of college but hadn't told her parents... she was leaving every morning but hanging out at malls etc. I'm sure her parents forgive her now, although, even her non musical name Al Spx is a pseudonym, so maybe there are some issues... but that's not our business. Her soulful voice is an integral part of her sound... a powerful instrument that draws you in and her band respect that. She describes her sound as Doom Soul and I certainly can't argue with that. "Blank Maps" has been banned on some American radio for the line in the chorus "I am, I am, a goddamn believer" - blasphemous or ironic? who cares... it's fucking brilliant. Get this Cold Specks album and "I predict a grateful experience".
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